Bearded Magazine “Interview: Eric Drew Feldman”
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Bearded Magazine / Features and Interview s Interview: Eric Drew Feldman You may not recognise the name, but chances are that Eric Drew Feldman has played on some of your favourite albums. Posted on Sep 21st, 2012 in Features and Interview s / By Ben Wood The musical polymath and studio wizard tells Bearded about his latest project kNIFE & fORK, and a career that’s seen him collaborate with Captain Beefheart, PJ Harvey and Frank Black Back in the 1970s, Eric Drew Feldman was studying at UCLA with electronic music pioneer Dr Philip Springer, when the legendary Captain Beefheart asked him to join his band. Not a bad way to start a career8 Ever since then, Eric has spent uch of his life in the studio or on stage 9 whether it-s on bass or keyboards, playing in his own bands or playing and producing for others. 0e-s a busy an but, courteous and unflappable, he spares Bearded an hour of his ti e to fill us in on what he-s up to right now : and talks us through a career that-s seen hi work with so e of alt9rock-s biggest na es. Right now he-s fresh fro a punk rock nostalgia trip, rehearsing and playing with newly refor ed all9 fe ale San Francisco band Frightwig: “I felt quite honoured. I had to dust off so e chops I never use any ore>? 0e-s also been recording a “petty loopy, unhinged .hrist as record? by super9sized cult “sy phonic rock? band The Polyphonic Spree, whose front an Ti De4aughter is an old friend of Eric-s. Eric produced Together We’re Heavy, the band-s follow9up to the band-s uch9hyped 2002 debut albu : “We all felt pretty good about it, but it was right at the ti e when record co panies were starting to disintegrate. It was another record that I feel like I ade, that didn-t ake a lot of i pact. We en$oyed it though8? 0e-s also $ust released his second albu as part of the duo kNIFE & fORK, a collaboration with his good friend, singer and lyricist 4aurie 0all. The Higher You Get the Rarer the Vegetation (a Salvador Dali quote, fact fans>A iBes at ospheric teBtures with a ore direct approach than on the pair-s debut albu . Wei ar9style cabaret, a spooky take on garage rock and bags of attitude ake it a rewarding and any9layered listen. It-s taken the duo eight years to ake a follow9up : though Eric argues that the band has always re ained a going concern: “We-ve slowly worked on it but we-ve been doing other pro$ects and we kept getting sidetracked8 Everybody has schedules, and nowadays getting together takes a lot of negotiation... We actually started recording this albu right after the other one. But a couple of years ensued, and about a year ago we took it up again. Whenever we do get together, though, we work quite quickly>? Eric-s ideas on production have changed between the two records, he ad its: “As the years roll by, I see to like things that are not necessarily psychologically si pler but sonically si pler. Nowadays, it-s all about the song, and not so uch about the string arrange ent. When we-re perfor ing the albu , we do it as a duo so it-s really stark.? The band hasn-t got any British gigs lined up as yet, but he-d love to co e over here and play to us Brits: “I- $ust trying to work out how to do that. We-ve really liked playing together and it would be good to do : if we could find so e people to help organise it8? Any pro oters out there who fancy bringing the band to us discerning Brits, for an orderly queue> Eric says that while the new record ay have been unconsciously influenced by artists, listeners “wouldn-t necessarily think of these people, fro hearing the record. I don-t try to duplicate anything. So e of the people I-ve respected, I-ve worked with : whether it be Mr Can Cliet D.aptain BeefheartE, Polly D0arveyE or .harles DPiBies front an Frank Black/Black Francis- real na eE8 they-re always in y thoughts. With so e of the , I try and push the influences away harder, because I think people are gonna say I sound like the . People pick up on the Polly DP/ 0arveyE thing a little bit, but that-s O, as at so e ti es and in so e places I-ve been part of DcreatingE that DsoundE anyway.? Eric ad its that, as a fellow usician, hearing so ething really good inspires iBed e otions: “With people like 0owe Felb DFiant SandE, /ason 4ytle DFrandaddyE, the late Mark 4inkous DSparklehorseE8 when I first hear the , I know they-re good because I feel $ealous of the >? 0e has been surrounded by usicians for ost of his life. Eric grew up in the perfect neighbourhood for a usic9crazy kid, and knew .aptain Beefheart for years before he $oined the Magic Band for the usical averick-s final three albu s (1128-s Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller), 1180-s Doc at the Radar Station and 1182-s Ice Cream For CrowA. Eric eBplains: “We grew up in the sa e town and I would go over to his house on a bicycle when I was 13 years old. We-d talk. Then he oved, and a good friend of ine, /eff Moris Teper ended up living neBt door to hi . That reintroduced us. Even a couple of years before that happened, if I went to one of his shows, at 1I years old, he-d acknowledge e and say hi. I was like, Jwow-.? Beefheart didn-t operate like ost people : either as a usician, or in his everyday life : and Eric-s audition for the Magic Band was typically eccentric: “I played for about a inute and he was like: Jyeah, that-s O,, do you wanna playK- 0e $ust uses an instinct, he has to see so ebody that he thinks he can sculpt in the i age that he wants. 0e needs willing participants8 0e pretty uch breaks down anything that sounds like you know what you-re doing.? Beefheart-s for er band ates have told horror stories of the treat ent they suffered at his hands : including being kept virtually i prisoned while they created the band-s avant9garde asterpiece Trout Mask Replica. 4uckily for Eric, his eBperience was ore benign : and fro his tone of voice, you can tell that Beefheart (who died aged I1 in 2010A still eans a lot to hi today. 0e ad its: “I read all these co plaints Dthe stories of old Magic Band e bersE and I figure that a lot of it is accurate. There were ti es like with anybody that you hang around with 9 they can be kind of a $erk. But it was usually i personal, like Jlet e ake this person get in a certain kind of ood so that the usic will sound a certain way-. It was always based around the usic. So e of the previous incarnations Dof the bandE would talk about stuff and say it got really unpleasant. But I never really eBperienced that. It was a different ti e, they were younger, they lived in a house together. I was definitely happy to leave and go to y own house after working with hi all day>? After recording three albu s with Beefheart, Eric was forced to fend for hi self when the great an retired fro usic, to beco e a highly successful eBpressionist painter. 0e confesses: “At the ti e, I was disappointed because I was about 25 and a bitious. When I was in the band we were playing 3009 to 4009seat clubs8 but after Doc at the Radar Station ca e out, he was being offered uch ore prestigious shows : like .arnegie 0all. But he was done with it and wasn-t interested. It see ed crazy to e at the ti e. But in retrospect he was already starting to suffer fro so e of the early effects of his illness DBeefheart suffered fro ultiple sclerosis in his final yearsE.? With the benefit of hindsight, Eric sees his entor-s difficult behaviour in a different light: “I used to say that Jhe-s really out there, he has a hard ti e relating to the world-, which I still think is true, but his illness was contributing to it at that point. It was difficult for hi to walk, get off the stage without falling down8 I thought he was an old guy but I realise now he was only about 31, 40 years old? Despite their difference in ages, the pair stayed in touch after Beefheart had oved out to the desert to paint: “We shared two or three phone calls a year. It was always very pleasant8 0e used to talk to y father. 0e really liked y dad> The conversations were very peculiar : but so ehow he decided y dad was so eone he could really relate to.? Eric feels honoured to have worked with Beefheart, a an he clearly isses deeply to this day : and the kudos it gave hi eant that he was never short of work offers. 0e uses: “I-ve been pretty fortunate8 DalthoughE after starting off with that sort of pedigree, it took a while for e to figure out what I should be doing.